INTRODUCTION
“So
God Created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them. God blessed
them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…” (Gen. 1:27-28)
Are you man enough? Are
you gay enough to know the truth about homosexuality? Is this ‘IN’ or ‘OUT’? How does the Catholic Church respond to this
issue? Do homosexual person go to
heaven? Is this there choice to become
homosexual or there are causes of becoming homosexual person? These are some of the questions we might ask
about this particular and sensitive topic about homosexuality.
Homosexual
person is created by God in his image and likeness. We have the same dignity received from our
Creator. Homosexual person is still a
human being who needs to be respected and loved. They are still children of God and part of
God’s plan for the salvation of mankind.
God’s whole creation is all good therefore homosexual people are also
good. Despite of their being homosexual they
have the freedom to choose between good or bad. This freedom is given by God
and He respects this gift. But when freedom is misused and misjudged by
homosexual person, that is the time that this type of sexual orientation is
immoral.
The
purpose of this research paper is to find out why homogenitalism or homosexual
act is a sexual madness in the light of the human Christian perspective based
from the Catholic teachings of the Church. Thus, it is important that we will identify
some ideas from the different authors who studied in this
particular topic about homosexuality.
Chapter I
HOMOGENITALISM
What is Homogenitalism?
These
are the definitions of homogenitalism from the different authors come across by
the researcher.
William Kraft defines “homogenitalism
in strictly speaking means homosexual.
That those who choose a homosexual life- style indicate that sexually
they prefer and desire genital with a member of the same sex.”[1] This is only an uncommon term to homosexual. Aside from the term homogenital to
homosexual, there is another term use by other books which can associate to
homosexual and that is homoerotic.
Moreover, the term
homosexuality is based on the “Greek word homos,
meaning the same, and the Latin word sexus,
meaning sex. Thus homosexuality means
literally the same sex or the same sexuality.”[2] For short it is a sexual attraction toward
persons of own sex. This is also the
common definition of the people about homosexual person. It always connotes sexual behavior to a
person not looking to the other bright side of a person. There is another author that states that,
“homosexual is an adjective, not a noun”.[3] It describes a person that the dominant trait
of whose sexualis inclines him to
seek the satisfaction of his own sex.
From the different
meanings given by the different authors about homosexual person the researcher
observed a common denominator from each meaning. That homosexual person whether male or female
is always attracted to there own sex for sexual satisfaction and desires. Then
the next question is. Is this there
choice to become homosexual or there are some reasons becoming on it?
Theories about
the causes of the Homosexuality
We
cannot escape the reality of the existence of homosexual person in our
society. For sure homosexual person live
in a complicated life because some homosexual person would say that it is not
easy to be ridiculed every single day of your life. This next topic to be discussed might help us
to have a better understanding of homosexuality. It talks about the theories about the causes
of the homosexuality. However, there are
no conclusive theories about the causes of homosexuality.
“Research indicates
that a so-called typical male homosexual had a very close relationship with a
mother who was strong, intimate, and dominating, while the father was
rejecting, cold and distant.”[4] Example if Mr. B’s father was an army officer,
a strict and a disciplinary father and everytime Mr. B see the aura of his
father he is trembling. A little mistake
of Mr. B, a great repercussion lies ahead from his father. That is why he develops a cold and far
relationship with his father. Mr. B is
closer to her mother because of the protection and love given by her
mother. This theory then suggests if Mr.
B’s father has a warm affectionate relationship with him, homosexuality is
unlikely to occur.
Another theory about the causes of
homosexuality is that, “when the boy does not enter the ‘boy becoming man’
social process with pleasure. He either
does not participate or, if he does, he does not enjoy it, and for that reason
is derided his peers”.[5] Example on this is that if the boy does not
have an outlet where he can release his aggression like sports, and etc.
“The Psychological research on homosexual females
indicates that they come from families in which there are cruel fathers and
martyred mothers”.[6] It implies that males for them are causes of
chaos as what they experience when they were still children.
No single, specific
cause can be pinpointed with any precision, about the evidence for a genetic
link. There is project name Human Genome
Project sponsored by National Institute of Health to attempt to map the entire
human genetic code, searching for all available genetic links to disease and
behavior. But until now they cannot find
any link about homosexuality. For Freud,
homo sexuality is a development, not a biological abnormality.
“All signs point to a retarded emotional
development: enforced sexual discipline may cause repressions which result in
the displacement of some sexual objects (Mayer); abnormal family situations of
hostility or aggressive affection for the mother; hostility or affection for a
father with too few heterosexual traits (Allen); rebellion against masculine
domination; lack of person with whom to identify; experiences of seduction in
youth-all may be factors. It is called
by some “a biological anomaly,” “not a psychoneurosis.”[7]
Chapter II
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT
HOMOSEXUALITY?
OLD TESTAMENT
There are lots of text in the bible that talks
about homosexuality. In the classical
texts homosexual activity is always condemned:
Genesis 19:4-11 “But before they lay down, the men of
the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,
surrounded the house; and they called to
Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so
that we may know them." Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door
after him, and said, "I beg you, my
brothers, do not act so wickedly”, Leviticus
18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”,
Leviticus 20:13 “If there is a
man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have
committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness
is upon them.” In Genesis 19 “God’s
attitude toward homosexuality is dramatically portrayed in the judgment on
Sodom and Gomorrah. Though homosexuality
is not the only thing that contributed to their destruction, it was certainly a
major factor.”[8] “Nowhere in the bible are homosexual acts
approve.”[9]
NEW TESTAMENT
Romans
1:26-28 “For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women
exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men,
giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one
another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own
persons the due penalty for their error.”
“This
text is the one of the clearest statements against homosexual acts in the
Bible, is written in the context of the idolatry of pagan culture and its
evaluation of homosexual acts is to be understood in light of this context.”[10] In Romans 1:27 “Paul implicitly appeals to
the natural order of creation to condemn homosexual behavior.” [11] These are the other biblical texts that talks
about homosexuality: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Do you not know that
wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived! Fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards,
revilers, and robbers--none of these will inherit the kingdom of God…”; 1
Timothy 1:8-11 “…fornicators, sodomites, slave-traders…that conforms to the
glorious gospel of the blessed God…”; and Jude 7 “likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah
and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in
sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing
a punishment of eternal fire.”
Chapter III
CATHOLIC TEACHING ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY: WHAT MAKES IT IMMORAL?
Everyone
of us is created by God, male and female or homosexual person. Each one of us is equal in the eyes of
God. Homosexual person has also and end
goal in his life and that is to be united to the Creator to have friendship and
fellowship with Him. Genesis 1:27-28 says
“So God Created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. God
blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…”
The Catholic Church does not condemn
homosexual person; but the homosexual act of this kind of orientation. To love others is not wrong even to the same
sex. “When attraction gives way to lust
and ultimately to sexual activity, it is sin.”[12] Further it is clear that “the two purpose of
the marital act are the permanent union of man and woman and the procreation
and rearing of children, and intentionally to exclude one of these purposes is
immoral.”[13] Therefore homosexual act is immoral because
it does not fulfill the two purpose of sexual union done by married couple. It is only moral if the genital acts
fulfilled in the context of married couple.
Since same sex marriage is not acceptable in our Catholic faith
therefore it implies that this homosexual act is immoral. Homosexual act cannot answer the task given
to us by God to be “fruitful and to multiply.”
This homosexual act only leads to personal sexual gratification and
pleasure.
“The Church’s constant teaching on the
morality of homosexual acts is unequivocal:
such acts are of their very nature seriously wrong. This teaching is clearly based on Scriptures
and is rooted in the biblical understanding of sexuality. The bible teaches that the sexual
differentiation of the human race into male and female is divinely willed, that
male and female complement each other and that marriage rooted in the
irrevocable consent of man and woman to be “one flesh” for life, alone respects
the goods of human sexuality. Thus,
Scripture teaches that marriage provides the normative condition for genital
sexual expression; all other expressions of this kind, whether between man and
woman or between members of the same sex, are to be evaluated in the light of
this norm.”[14]
The stand of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church about homosexuality as stated in the paragraph
# 2357 is this:
“Basing itself on the Sacred Scripture,
which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always
declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective
and sexual complementarity. Under no
circumstances can they be approved.”
What
makes it immoral? It is because our
sexual faculty can be only morally good if it used in God’s purpose and
design. That is to multiply offspring
here on earth, to promote life. “Homosexual
activity is not a complementary union able to transmit life; and so it thwarts
the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the gospel says is the
essence of Christian-living.”[15] Thus “Homosexual acts cannot be procreative
and cannot express a love that is inherently fruitful and procreative.”[16]
Chapter IV
CONCLUSION
Therefore we cannot say
that homosexual person cannot inherit God’s Kingdom. We cannot say that homosexual persons are
intrinsically evil. Homosexuals are
created by God in His image and likeness.
A person who has dignity that needs to be respected and loved. They are also called by God to have union and
fellowship with Him in the days to come.
Probably to become homosexual, to get attracted to the same sex, and
mostly rejected by the society and your
love ones are not a choice. Because if they have the choice to be homosexual or
not, they will choose to be a normal or straight guy or woman. The Catechism of the Catholic Church stated
in paragraph # 2358, “they do not choose their homosexual condition; for most
of them it is a trial. They must be
accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”[17]
We need to respect them
and accept them of who and what they are.
The principle of human dignity explains to us, that every person is made
in the image of God. Once this principle
is firmly held, there is no feeling of shame or personal inferiority in being
blind, crippled, homosexually oriented, poor or illiterate. All are equal persons, have the same human
rights, and have the claim of justice and dignity.
On this topic we can
also use the principle of personalized sexuality. That human sexual life is not merely a matter
of animal instinct but requires a free decision. A decision which is guided by reflection to
do what is good and to avoid what is evil.
Since sexuality is a gift from God, it must be used in a proper and
right way.
The Church is against
the homosexual activity because it leads to eternal damnation. An act that contradicts to the natural law is
an act of immorality. The bases in all
these teachings are taken from the Scriptures, Tradition, and the teachings of
the Catholic Church. It is emphasized
well from the previous chapter that to love others with same sex is not
wrong. It is wrong when homosexual
activity happens.
A challenge for us,
that we must not discriminate these homosexual persons rather we must love them
as God love them so much. It is our duty
as Christians even to non-Christians that to take good care of these
people. “They are called to friendship
with God and to holiness of life, as are all human persons; and they have
distinctive heavy burdens to bear.”[18] Loving and accepting them are not enough as
Christians or non-Christians. We must
also teach our members who have this condition about the immorality of
homosexual activity. Homosexual persons
can still live a happy life without sexual activity , and that life is not at all
about pleasure on sex. It is only part
of the biggest dimension of life. There are
peoples today who are not married, like those people who choose to be single
for the rest of their lives; priest is another example of it. Yet they are still happy and fruitful to the
life they choose. If others can be happy
without sexual activity how much more to the homosexual persons in which they
are also good in abstaining it.
[1] William Kraft, Sexual Dimensions of the Celibate Life (Kansas
City: Andrews and Mcmeel Inc., 1979), 153.
[2]
Philip S. Keane, S.S., Sexual
Morality: A Catholic Perspective (New York,Ramsey, Toronto Paulist Press,
1977), 71.
[3]
Paul T. Jersild and others, Moral Issues and Christian
Response (New York,
Chicago, San Francisco,Atlanta, Dallas, Montreal, Toronto: Holt, Rineheart And
Winston, Inc., 1971), 231.
[4] William Kraft, Sexual Dimensions of the Celibate Life,154
[6]
William Kraft, Sexual Dimensions of
the Celibate Life, 155.
[7]
Paul T. Jersild and others, Moral
Issues and Christian Response, 182
[9]
John F. Harvey, O.S.F.S., The
Truth about Homosexuality: The Cry of the Faithful (Ignatius Press, San
Francisco, 1996),139
[11]
Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices, 134.
[12]
Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices,
235.
13 John
F. Harvey, O.S.F.S., The Truth about Homosexuality,125
[14] Rev.
Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap. and others, Catholic
Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense Second Edition(Huntington,
Indiana Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1998), 187.
[15]
Rev. Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap. and others, Catholic Sexual Ethics,189.
[16]
Rev. Ronald Lawler, Catholic
Sexual Ethics ,191.
